The present invention generally relates to authentication apparatuses, user authentication methods, user authentication cards and storage mediums, and more particularly to an authentication apparatus a user authentication method for an authentication apparatus, a user authentication card, and a storage medium storing a program for user authentication.
Conventionally, the security function provided in a personal computer (PC) generally carries out the authentication by inputting a password or a user identification (ID) from a keyboard. According to this conventional method, the password or user ID defined by the user is made secret to a third party, and various accesses are started and carried out responsive to the authentication made with respect to an input made from a screen of the personal computer or the like.
However, if the password or the user ID, which is a string of characters or numbers, becomes known to the third party, the authentication may easily be given to the third party, and there was a problem in that the reliability of the security provided may not be sufficiently high.
In order to solve these problems of the prior art, it is an object of the present invention to improve the reliability of the security by use of a key peculiar to the user and to carry out an authentication with a high security in a simple manner by carrying a card set with the key, by carrying out the authentication by collating with registered coordinate patterns or the like a coordinate pattern input from a tablet or a touch panel of an apparatus which is capable of detecting coordinates such as a pen input type personal computer (pen PC) and an apparatus having the tablet or, a coordinate pattern which is input from holes or openings, cutouts and marks of the card.